Stadia may be dead, but consoles are still around for Google’s cloud gaming platform. With the service permanently offline, its proprietary Stadia controllers threaten to fill landfills until Google comes up with a plan to turn them into universal Bluetooth devices that work with just about everything. The app for unlocking consoles on other devices is a web service and previously had a shutdown date of December 2023. Apparently there isn’t enough time to convert all these consoles, so the Stadia controller restoration process will continue for quite some time. year User X (formerly Twitter). Wario64 He was the first to discover it advertisementIndicates that the online tool will continue until December 31, 2024.
As a cloud-based gaming service, Stadia runs all game code on a remote server, live streams individual video frames to the user, and displays gameplay. The user presses keys on their local console, and each individual key press must be transmitted over the Internet to the remote game server for processing. These services live and die by response time; To reduce latency, the Stadia console connects directly to the Internet via Wi-Fi instead of connecting to your computer via Bluetooth. then Google on the Internet claims that one fewer hop to the local network results in faster response times, especially since the service was originally built on a Chromecast dongle with limited performance.
As the service is being discontinued, the Wi-Fi-only controller will no longer work wirelessly, leaving the old USB port as the only way to use the controller. However, since the Stadia controllers already come with a passive Bluetooth chip, Google has created a way to switch isolated controllers from a Wi-Fi connection to Bluetooth, making them a universal HID (Human Interface Device) to connect wirelessly to computers and computers. Gives Telephone. Normally you’d expect to download some sort of firmware update software, but Google being Google, the entire process of updating the Stadia controller takes place on a webpage. “Google’s console update page looks great”WebUSB“API Setup – You can run a file chrome-browser, Plug in your console, give the browser access to the device and the website can directly access the console and update the firmware without installing any software.
Although web-based update software is very elegant, this means that it is impossible for third parties to archive updated software for future use. Once Google’s website is down, there will be no console updates. On the other hand, a desktop application can be kept and shared forever.
Reports in the early days of Stadia sales suggested that the service was short of Google’s estimate of “hundreds of thousands” of users, so there will likely be plenty of consoles. It will be the same in 2022 It was normal Buying new Stadia consoles with original production dates of 2019, assuming these things are just filling up warehouses. With the update plan running for another year, there’s more time to sell and find a good home for these consoles.
In our Stadia review, Ars senior gaming editor Kyle Orland found the controller “one of the highlights of the Stadia launch package” and said it “features a sturdy, balanced weight and comfortable, clickable buttons on the front and analog keys.” Sticks, D-pad And high-quality ergonomic design and powerful premium drivers on the shoulder triggers So, assuming you can get the MSRP device at a significant discount of $70, it seems like a decent purchase. The only downside is the audio features like the headphone jack. Microphone stopped working after bluetooth update.